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Page 10 - Wednesday, June 15, 2022
The Sylvania Times
thesy lvaniatimes .com
Burton Kemp
Around
the horn
Time for a new scrapbook
and old time GSU baseball
THE EVOLUTION OF
INTERSCHOLASTIC
ATHLETICS AT SYLVANIA
HIGH SCHOOL
Elsewhere in this week’s Sylvania Times I have a story relative to the fact that by this
past Monday no less than seven SCHS sports were engaged in summer workouts. Save
for the second GHSA-mandated “dead week’, July 4-10, these student-athletes will be
working three-four days each and every week until school starts on Monday, August 2. If
you think that summer is a time for athletes wearing the Red and White to lounge around
and do nothing, you are sorely mistaken. The GHSA does have official starting dates
for practice but if you want to be an interval part of your sport, you better show up for
workouts all summer. Many fall games may be won and lost this summer.
With the aforementioned story begins another athletic year’s scrapbook. I have a
scrapbook for pretty much every year since 1971. Many from the seventies are football
only. Most from the eighties are primarily football and baseball only. Beginning with
the nineties they pretty much cover everything. The only two years missing (not because
I lost them) are the 1991-92 and 1992-93 school years, but that is another story. Mind
you, these are not scrapbooks for photos as folks think of today; these are yesteryear’s
scrapbooks. They are very large (14” by 17” the last few years) and act as a “vault” for
each week’s stories that I have written. There are also many stories from other sources as
well. Between fifty years of volumes and decades of statistics, my home office ran out of
scrapbook shelf space long ago. There will now be six years worth on the floor.
Did you really care to know about my scrapbooks? I dare say, probably not.
This is a great time of year for fans of the bat and ball sports who don’t care to watch
the pros (like me). There are three weeks of great college softball with the regionals, the
super regionals, and the World Series. Then, with just one week of overlap, come the
college baseball regionals, super regionals, and World Series. Of course Oklahoma mined
the softball World Series (who can pull for a school whose very mascot is a cheater) but
baseball has been fantastic to this point. For a time Saturday afternoon there was a Super
Regional baseball game on four different ESPN channels. If you watched any of the
Notre Dame-Tennessee super regional, especially Friday, it was Super Cool to constantly
hear about the Irish in the Statesboro Regional. Hey, all of the reviews of the Statesboro
Regional that I have read have been very positive.
Heading to Jack Stallings Field at J. I. Clements Stadium for three days last weekend
brought back a lot of baseball memories from GSC (College and not University) 1976-
1979.1 apparently don’t remember what the name of the stadium was; on a multiple
choice I would have said J. I. Clements Stadium, but I learned as I write this that it was
not called that until 1985. Whatever its name I watched a lot of baseball those years while
sitting on the hill behind what few wooden seats there were. I thought it was a nice place.
It is really nice now.
GSC was a real baseball power back then. The first baseball regional I watched in person
was back in the spring of 1979. My cousin and I drove down to Coral Gables for the
Atlantic Regional. It was GSC, The U on its home field, Clemson, and The Citadel. The
Eagles were an Independent (as was Miami) and with only eight regionals, most with
only four teams, it was a lot harder to get a bid back then. After thinking that the GSU
home stadium was nice, walking into Mark Light Stadium was amazing. Anyway, like
two weekends ago weather was a problem. I think it always is down there. The Eagles,
who went down 1-95 with a record of 44-11, lost to Clemson twice but defeated Southern
Conference champion Citadel. An interesting tidbit about that trip is that it helped land
me on student-teacher probation. I was student teaching at our own Central Middle and
missed class to go to Miami. That combined with the fact that my supervising teacher
found out that I was coaching (by myself) the SCHS baseball team just didn’t go over well
in the education department.
One final thought on the old days of GSU baseball and something that couldn’t happen
today but was truly funny back then. It was 1979 and the late innings of a 16-3 rout of
a UGA team led by Buck Belue. As UGA took the field some Kappa Sigs, dressed in
all camo and carrying toy M-16s, climbed over the left field fence and stormed the field
pretending to take Bulldogs prisoner. Of course that could not happen today. Life has
changed. Folks would end up in jail. 1979 was also the year that my alma mater had a guy
as Homecoming queen. There is yet another story.
Recreation Department News
GYMNASTICS CAMP
Dates: June 20-23 (Mon-Thurs)
Time: 9:00am-12:00pm
Cost: $50 (includes snack each day & a camp t-shirt)
Ages: 5&UP
Location: SCRD Gym
Instructors: Ashley Edenfield & Katelyn Bazemore
Signup by June 10!
BASKETBALL CAMP
Dates: June 13-16 (Mon-Thurs)
Time: 10:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m.
Cost $30
Ages 7-14 boys & girls
Location: SCRD gym
Instructors: Madelyn Brown, Bubba Brown
SWIMMING LESSONS
Session Dates: June 6-17
10:00 a.m. Pre-K/Beginner & Intermediate
11:00 a.m. Beginner & Advanced Beginner
Cost: $30/person / 2 week session
Youth 6&UP can take Beginner (level 1&2),
Advanced Beginner (level 3&4),
or Intermediate (level 5) Classes.
A Pre-K Class (ages 4-5 ) will be offered at
10:00AM. *An adult must be with the
child for the Pre-K Class.
SOFTBALL CAMP
Dates: July 18-21 (Mon-Thurs)
Time: 5:30-7:30
Cost: $30 (camp/t-shirt included)
Ages: 10 & up
Instructor for Softball Camp: Kamryn Ellis
Location: SCRD Youth Complex
The Screven County Recreation Department will host the Georgia Recreation and Park Associa
tion Class C State Tournament for 8U Boys Baseball June 21-23 at the SCRD Complex. The State
bracket can be found at screvenrec.com or quickscores.com/grpa.
PART IV
Burton Kemp
Sports Editor
Before going any further with the development of the athletic program at
Sylvania High School in the early to mid 1920s, it might be fun to look at some of the
differences in the games and the organization of the games themselves 100 years ago as
well as some of the difficulties incurred when attempting these games.
The game of basketball was, in itself, different. Boys still played five on five, but there
was a jump ball at center court after every basket. Substitutions were few and far between.
In fact, a box score of the time would have a line for substitutes and there usually were no
more than one or two. Horace Boykin, who played in 1922-23 said, “There were just no
substitutes because we had so few ball players. We were a small school to begin with and
a lot of boys just didn’t have time to play.” Echoing Boykin’s sentiment was girls player
Carrie Lee Pierce Mitchell who said, “A lot of people wanted to play, but they probably
couldn’t.”
While the boys’ game of basketball might have been similar to todays, the girls’ game
was certainly different. The court was divided into thirds and each team had two players
who were restricted to their particular third. There were two guards who played defense,
two forwards who played offense and a jump center and side center who played in the
middle. These centers participated in the jump ball after each basket and helped get
the ball up court. Carrie Lee Pierce Mitchell, who played for the SHS girls in 1922-23
remarked about these first teams, “Oh yes, we thought it was a big thing, getting a uniform
and all. Looking back on it, it really wasn’t a big deal when compared to today. There
was really no coach, just a teacher looking after us who picked up some things from
somebody else.”
Modem coaches take pride in their practice organization. Most would have fits over
practices in the twenties. Claude Mobley, Jr., a player 1925-26 said, “Most youngsters had
to work, there was not a lot of time for other things. There were no practices. If there was
no game after school, a kid went to work. “Practice scrimmages were during recess and
lunch. The kids went home to eat lunch and came back early or they brown bagged and
stayed at school.”
There were very few games to be played during a season and a majority of those would
be played against other schools within the county. Probably chief among the reasons for
the few games was the ever-present transportation problem. Long before the era of the
team bus, these players had to find their own way to games. Few Sylvanians had cars
during the decade, though Claude Mobley, Jr. remembered that his father allowed him to
take loads in the car during the 1926 season. “Teams played very few games, someone
local would take players to road games,” recounted Horace Boykin.
Bob Howard once told an interesting story about transportation problems, “ft was either
1929 or 1930; I wasn’t in high school yet. The district Basketball Tournament was at the
old Armory in Waynesboro. Barrett Waters, Robert Freeman [both players], Jesse Griffen
and I were going. We couldn’t find a ride so we had our first experience hitchhiking. The
road to Sardis was closed so we had to go through Millen. We got a ride on a gas track
to Millen, walked to Perkins, and got a ride to Waynesboro. That night we stayed at the
Armory. Well, the next day we tried to hitch a ride back and ended up walking to Millen,
which is nearly 20 miles. When we got to Millen we caught the same gas truck back.”
Back to the sports themselves, boasting a senior class of 29, the Class of 1926 and its boys’
basketball team had their finest season (1925-26) since the inception of the sport. Coached
by J. L. Clegg, the team members were Evans “Doc” Reddick, Claude Mobley, Jr., John
Mills, Jr., Ikey Minkovitz, James Mobley, Pleasant “Chong” Mallard, R. C. Overstreet,
Lovett Bazemore, Kenny Barr, Ruben Waters, and Walter Waters. The February 3, 1926
Sylvania Telephone recorded that that the team defeated Waynesboro High 64-0. Player
John Mills, Jr. said he didn’t remember that. “Seems to me if we had whipped someone
that bad I would remember it,” he said.
The big event for that team during the 1925-26 season came in March, however. The
boys traveled to Savannah to compete in a tournament and defeated Brooklet 15-13 in
the first round. For the team the victory was especially gratifying as Mills said, “They
had their own gym [SHS still played on the cinder and clay playground court] and when
we played them during the season in Brooklet, they had beaten us pretty bad. We didn’t
know how to play in a gym.” Further, according to Mills, this trip to Savannah was as far
away from home as most of the players had ever been. Hot on the girls’ side of basketball
in the winter of 1926 must have been Hilltonia as they defeated Alexander three times
by margins of 8-2, 8-6, and 6-2. Lucile Lewis was the hero. Based on the information
available and later news stories, by the later 1920s, there was no girls basketball at SHS.
The Screven County 8U All-Stars won their District by defeating Hawkinsville 26-3,
Metter 13-4, Reidsville 15-3, and Reidsville again in the championship game by the
score of 9-6. They have qualified to play in the G.R.P.A. State Tournament June 21-23 in
Screven County. Kneeling are Chuck White, Tommy Taylor, Beau Riley, Andrew Clifton,
Casey Smith, Jr., Bayne White, and Emory Triplett. Standing are Maddux Hodges, Trax
Shipes, Silas Wall, Waylon Woodall, and Eli Hall. Coaches are Bob Hodges and Chad
Wall.
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